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Motorsport

Thoughts on Stan Sport staying on with IndyCar for another three years despite the change of domestic rights holder under Fox in the USA ahead of the 2025 season

by Sports Benches

So there we have it with IndyCar ahead of next year at least on Australian TV & Stan Sport is not going anywhere for at least the next three years according to SpeedCafe today amid the change of domestic TV rights contract from NBC to Fox from six months ago, who will now be carrying the races going forward (all races LIVE on free-to-air in the USA) under the next multi-year deal, so case closed.

It’s been a long while as per International broadcasting contracts to align with IndyCar’s domestic TV component, which the sport will come back to revisit them once each of the domestic TV rights deals cycle has been settled from time to time. 

I’m not sure about the UK and Ireland market but it still says Sky Sports F1 (their parent company is Comcast that owns NBC) for now as you never know before Round 1 of next season at the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida in March 2025.

Don’t forget the hour-long IndyCar highlights will also still be on 9Go & 9Now just days to a week after each round depending on your local TV guides during the day albeit with a different broadcast feed from now on via FOX. Plus, Leigh Diffey is still contracted with NBC and has recently became their NASCAR Cup commentator anyway back in late August, so no doubt we will hear a new race announcer – probably Allen Bestwick, Kevin Lee or even Mike Joy (I’d say Indy 500 only so he can get his wish at least once in his career despite being age 75).

Although mind you, yes, it’s going to be a bit weird seeing the FOX Sports broadcast presentation at it goes across Stan Sport & 9Go. But don’t think it’s that much of a big deal since the FOX we’re getting from is from the states in America and not the Australian part from Foxtel even though they’re both tied-up under News Corp. 

We’ve seen this happen many times before with Seven’s NFL coverage when 1-2 of their Sunday Afternoon match-ups on Monday mornings during the season has the full FOX broadcast feed including some Playoffs as well as the Super Bowl in rotation once every few years — as I’m sure Nine/Stan won’t be fussed about it too much as long as they’re happy broadcasting IndyCar and that’s the bottom line with the news coming today.

And who knows if Stan will get to NASCAR someday? when Nine Entertainment Co. is currently interested in acquiring the Supercars rights off Fox Sports/Kayo via Foxtel and Seven and the current rights contract will expire in 12 months’ time. 

Not giving a verdict for this but all we want is a bit more free-to-air coverage like every Sunday race live on top of the current 6-7 big race events – that’s all.

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Thoughts on Jack Doohan finishing 15th on debut with Pierre Gasly’s another amazing finish led to Alpine ‘s incredible 6th place in the Constuctors’ Standings

by Sports Benches

First of all, it’s been a whole new learning curve weekend for one of our Aussie drivers Jack Doohan who was unexpectedly been handed a Formula 1 debut for Alpine-Renault at Abu Dhabi.

Yes, he may have ran towards the bottom end of the fastest lap times over the first two days in both practice and qualifying, even though he was on pace with his team-mate Pierre Gasly at one time during the Final Practice hour early Saturday. 

For those fans who weren’t impressed with him so far, this is his first few steps into the deep end & remember, he doesn’t have the best racing record unlike others who have won series titles prior to F1.

Especially when there were rumours floating around Jack being replaced by Franco Colapinto from Argentina just because he did a brilliant job when he came on unexpectedly for the underwhelming Logan Sargeant at Williams a few months ago while he also has deeper pockets his own sponsorship funding. 

Plus, he hasn’t been that good over a series of crashes as of late anyway – so why risk all of this when you got Doohan who is the first Alpine Academy driver to now race an Alpine Renault in F1? No matter what happens, he will always be grateful for that moment as we’ll see what happens after a few races in early 2025 with his performances since Jack only has a one year contract.

But at least, he was able to bring his car home all in one piece despite being a lap down in 15th. Surely there will be more to come from Jack ahead of his home race at Albert Park in Melbourne come March 2025 and let’s hope he will be able to score points over the next of his few races from here in order to keep his seat.

For now, shoutout to new team-mate Pierre Gasly on another amazing finish in 7th 10th in Drivers’ Points to remember after a long 20 + races to close it out this year off the back of his excellent start.

Okay, he might not be able to catch up with the front runners as the race goes on but hey, that was at least enough to hold off Haas for 6th in the Constructors’ Championship. Glad to hear Alpine is gonna get that huge hey day money they wanted after their Brazilian double-podium jackpot from one month ago.

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Final Thoughts on Jack Doohan’s first full weekend Formula 1 debut for Alpine-Renault before the start of the 2024 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix’s Friday Practice Sessions

by Sports Benches

In a few hours time, Jack Doohan will make his first full weekend Formula 1 debut for Alpine-Renault at Abu Dhabi.

Yes, there has been pressure around him for some time including off-track while he does not have a championship with him from lower levels of motorsport.

But let’s hope he makes the most out of it having won races and delivered podiums before as soon as he drives off his AS24 chassis from pit lane.

A Top 7-10 race finish would be the bare minimum for a start that should help Jack keep on going through to next season and hopefully the season after that – that’s what we all want from the debutant.

We wish Jack the best of luck!

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Motorsport

Thoughts on Alpine back to 6th in the Constructors’ Championship following Pierre Gasly’s Top 5 run in 5th at Qatar

by Sports Benches

Who would’ve thought Alpine unlikely to finish 6th in the Constructors’ Championship after their huge Brazilian double podium jackpot a few weeks ago?

Thanks to the upgrades being done on Pierre Gasly’s race car, this was made possible, especially on the dry after he had a brilliant drive to pull off his car home in 5th place. 

Now Alpine has re-taken 6th in the teams’ spots over Haas by a five-point gap and as long as they hang in there by the finish line for next weekend’s finale at Abu Dhabi, then surely that would mean so much when it comes to the $$$ & everything. 

Sure, wish they could keep their own engines that is expected to end in one year’s time but at least, more can be used to make Alpine be more competitive.

And off the back of Esteban Ocon’s recent frustrations with the team lately, he may as well leave Alpine a bit early now to join his new team Haas right away for post-season testing ahead of the 2025 season.

That would open the door for our Aussie Jack Doohan to make his Formula 1 race debut in an Alpine not too long from now rather than March 2025 at Albert Park in Melbourne. First of all, it’s great seeing another Aussie on the grid which is things you love to see. Yes, his racing record may not be the most glamorous but has scored podiums and race wins before. Sure, he will look at 7th-10th placed finishes for a start and go from there alongside Pierre.

For now, another brilliant show from Alpine this time on the dry under the lights from Losail International Circuit in Qatar.

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Thoughts on Nine looking to bid exclusive rights for the 2026 Supercars TV deal that could change everything with Stan Sport

by Sports Benches

The Supercars season may be over with Will Brown winning his first Drivers’ Championship for Red Bull Team Australia which is under the Triple 8 Chevy organisation but there’s still more to it off-track following a huge update regarding the sport’s next TV rights package from 2026 to at least 2030.

It’s not just Fox Sports battling hard to retaining the majority rights alongside Seven, they now officially have competition in the form of Nine/Stan Sport under Nine Entertainment Co. Should Nine win the rights, this shouldn’t be an issue with $$$ since they got Stan as their own paid streaming service that includes Stan Sport. 

They currently hold a number of other major sporting rights content with some being simulcasted on Nine that operates similarly to other Pay TV outlets like Fox Sports via Foxtel (cable/satellite) & Kayo Sports (streaming).

With scheduling though, that will be another point of area to discuss if Nine does win the rights. They would like to have all Sunday races live, keep the other six major event races live that Seven is currently doing (which was also Ten has done as a secondary broadcaster back in 2015-2020) and have nearly everything else behind a paywall. 

Most Sunday races nowadays begin closer to 4pm and Nine has the NRL on at the same time, but Supercars is indeed one of our national-level sporting leagues much like our motor racing version to our two biggest footy codes – NRL and AFL.

Sunday Afternoon NRL, for example, during the season may be on the main channel over in Queensland and New South Wales with all other states being on 9Gem. However, it’s still better than nothing and sure Nine would at least have some sport to play with for the non-NRL states in Supercars as a lead-in for their 6pm news bulletin. 

Remember the Supercars races are held every couple of weeks across 12-13 times throughout the year as yes, the viewership and fan base may not be the same as once was before. Although you can say that ad-free racing proved to be the difference over the last decade & that won’t change anytime soon, but it would be better though if Supercars at least have every Sunday race live for free on top of six full event races every year – that’s the bare minimum we could ask for.

I’m not going to pick a winner out of this but whoever has the most money and most importantly, the appropriate reach they could offer to our viewership would be enough for Supercars to lock in that next TV rights deal.

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Motorsport

Formula 1 News: Thoughts on Damon Hill leaving Sky Sports F1 after 13 years following the end of this season

by Sports Benches

Just heard the news about 1996 World Champion Damon Hill who is set to leave Sky Sports F1 at season’s end. He has been there providing punditry from day one since the network’s first foray into Formula 1 back in 2012 after BBC were no longer able hold full rights at the time that ended decades worth of live full season coverage on British free-to-air television.

But the TV landscape of live sport has changed ever since anyway with Sky holding and still has full season rights while the BBC initially carried half of the live packages over the next couple of years before Channel 4 took over the free-to-air several years later. 

Now as of the 2019 and 2024 contract extension deals by Sky, Channel 4 still has the local free-to-air rights until at least 2026 but can only air the British race live and everything else being highlights.

This is much like the model we have here with our Formula 1 coverage where all races are currently behind the paywall on Fox Sports/Kayo (although every practice/ qualifying of all other races including race highlights are free-to-view on Kayo Freebies) & the annual Australian race live via free-to-air on Network 10. This is despite 10 still having a great relationship with F1 that way goes back to 2003 off the Nine Network despite cutting back awful lots of coverage over time – this goes from full season coverage to half season live coverage to then the Australian race live + highlights and now just the Aus race live.

Speaking of 10, Damon Hill was actually part of their comprehensive Australian Grand Prix on-air presentation over the last two years at Albert Park – including race day commentary alongside Richard Craill and journalist Tom Clarkson. 

This was when Australian F1 legend Mark Webber no longer able to devote time on 10 when he had to be there for current Aussie F1 driver Oscar Piastri who currently drives McLaren-Mercedes as his agent while Channel 4 paid him more than well enough to be part of their commentary/punditry team at times throughout the year. Don’t know if his exit from Sky was his decision or by the network themselves but it looks like 10 will have to find another new analyst to replace Hill going into 2025 since he will want to slow things down back in the UK.

We could either see Jolyon Palmer or maybe James Hinchcliffe onboard since they are from F1 TV. Maybe Jenson Button since he now calls the US home these days in California and it wouldn’t be too much of an issue for him to fly over to Melbourne for 10 as long as he doesn’t have anything else with going on. If not, maybe Anthony Davidson or even Karun Chandhok as outside picks if they would be willing to go there in-person?

As we know by now, Sky sometimes pick studio hub locations at selected Grand Prix events in London when the current F1 calendar year is so jam packed & not all races will be on-site going forward considering the cost of travel, hotel accommodation, production setup, etc.

But again, just playing around with speculation as still too early to tell ahead of the next Australian race who will be opening the next Formula 1 campaign in March 2025.

And let’s hope Jack Doohan will still be able to make it towards the grid on time as a full-time Alpine-Renault driver on debut amid rumours of him being dumped before he could even touch a Formula 1 car for the rising Argentine Franco Colapinto, who has been making an immediate impact, since he unexpectedly replaced the crash-prone Logan Sargeant very recently at Williams. For now, we wish Damon Hill the best of luck with his next chapter in 2025.

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NASCAR Race Today: Another late Team Penske Round of 8 win this time by No.12 Ford’s Ryan Blaney at Martinsville ahead of his season-title defense for next weekend

by Sports Benches

Yes, it’s that time of the year when eligible Playoff drivers who haven’t booked their Championship 4 ticket yet usually leave things to the last minute during the last Round of 8 Cup race. However for some when they were fortunate enough to get that golden ticket opportunity, it’s within good reason thanks to Ryan Blaney’s win today in the No.12 Ford Mustang for Team Penske at Martinsville Speedway. 

Now there’s going to be not one but two Team Penske cars alongside a 23XI Toyota (Tyler Reddick) and a Hendrick Chevy (William Byron) on what could be yet another golden Team Penske Championship year for the third straight time ahead of next weekend’s season-finale race at Phoenix Raceway.

You just couldn’t believe the time has come for Team Penske to dominate this three-week semis swing even though we haven’t heard much from them beforehand. But hey, they’ve been there and have done before with huge success and it would no surprise if either the defending champ Ryan Blaney or Joey Logano take home that championship trophy once the 2024 season is done.

First of all, Christopher Bell would’ve easily been the other last two favourites to book into Phoenix – provided if he can provide a good enough finish – as one of the championship front-runners like it was back in 2022 and 2023. But then he made an illegal wall move towards the end there on Byron (the actual Championship 4 contender instead) that got himself DQ’d and NASCAR fined him with a penalty there on the spot post-race. He’ll have to wait till next year now for his next championship opportunity as still plenty to offer in the No.20 Gibbs Toyota at age 30.

Also, feeling sorry there for experienced veteran Denny Hamlin who overcame yesterday’s crash to force his way back up through the field with a spare No.11 Toyota Camry in 6th – the best placed Toyota/Gibbs car today at Martinsville.

Unfortunately, it’s still not quite enough to book in his championship shot yet again for season 2024 when a win was still required that began with the Team Penske’s championship glory back in 2022. Yes, he also could’ve done it last weekend at Homestead if it wasn’t for that poor last restart & also if the last yellow didn’t come out when other eligible Championship 4 contenders already have better Playoff form than him it as seen with the Team Penske duo & even one or the other Toyota team-mates like Bell and his 23XI employee of course in Reddick.

Although there’s lots more to come from Denny as a co-owner for 23XI Racing with Reddick still in the fight, but as a driver, he really needs a big impact all along at Playoffs time next year like winning all these set of races if he wants to finally win the championship so badly.

What else? There’s also some Ford cars in and out of the Top 10 with Brad Keselowski who finished 9th in his co-owned No.6 Ford for RFK Racing as well as Noah Gragson 11th as the highest Stewart-Haas Ford finisher ahead of a few other team-mates down the Top 15 mark for his No.10 crew. And don’t forget New Zealand’s Shane Van Gisbergen in 12th for Kaulig Racing’s No.16 Chevy Cup team. Yes, I know Austin Dillon aka AD finished 7th for the No.3 Childress Chevy but he was there for the wrong reasons unfortunately when it comes to that late race radio drama.

And if I was going to choose a championship winner for next Monday’s season finale for Cup, it’s going to be a touch one for sure. Now based on regular season form then it would be William Byron; if not, going with Logano to get this done for a 3rd Drivers’ Championship.

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2024 MotoGP Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix feature race: Marc Marquez overcame poor start to nail down Jorge Martin out of the best Ducati bikes up front with the win

by Sports Benches

What a race and what a comeback with Marc Marquez who just shut down Jorge Martin on time to take home that 2024 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix win for Gresini Racing (Ducati) at Phillip Island. 

He may had a bad start over from 2nd to 10th when he forgot to tear off his visor sheet that could’ve been so costly had M. Marquez spun out of control, which was so, so close. But fast forward over the next 20-25 odd laps, M. Marquez made up so much lost time by closing in on the race leader Martin before he finally got around him for 1st with only a few laps to go, and he too has defended really well that saw the best of the Spaniard once again…in a Ducati at Phillip Island. This is his 4th win Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix win here since 2019 when he was with the Honda Factory Team back then with a big move ahead to the Ducati works team next season alongside an up-to-date bike rather than a year old bike.

For Martin, commiserations on finishing 2nd for Pramac Racing (Ducati) when he was leading out in front for the most part, having seen him take home the Sprint race yesterday. But this feature race is so different though where no front running rider will give one away lightly as M. Marquez’s brilliant late race fight proved so difficult for Martin to shut him down towards the end there, especially with little time remaining. The good news is though that not only he’s happy to take home 2nd but Martin still has a 20-point lead in the riders’ points ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (who finished 3rd for Ducati) with three rounds left this season.

What else? Plenty of Ducati success also to fill up the Top 6 alongside some Aprillias a bit down the order including two x KTM Red Bull factory bikes, with South African rider Brad Binder in 7th & Aussie’s own Jack Miller in 11th respectively. For Miller, we may not seen much of him this season but at least he will have a ride next year at Pramac albeit in a Yamaha satellite bike.

That’s it from Phillip Island as best of luck over the rest of this season and most of next year before all the world’s best riders come back here for another edition of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix. And last but not least, great to see a few other well-known people during this weekend – such as two legendary Australian motorsport icons in former 5 x 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan & former Formula 1 driver Mark Webber as well as New Zealander Simon Crafar who will be leaving his seasonal pit reporting post for the World Feed at season’s end after 7 years to become the chief steward.

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Supercars: Thoughts on a few familiar faces back on TV at the 2024 Bathurst 1000 with some free-to-air ideas on next TV rights deal

by Sports Benches

The 2024 Bathurst 1000 race weekend have seen some familiar media faces back on TV with the likes of Molly Taylor, Chris Stubbs & Aaron Noonan at least for Seven who covered this race as Supercars’s free-to-air partner alongside Fox Sports. 

We all know Stubbsy has just came back from a huge year himself covering the Grand Slam Daily Tennis shows and also reported the recent Summer Olympics in Paris for Stan Sport as he will continue to do so next year starting with the Australian Open at Melbourne Park since he’s freelance. Plus, Molly came back to TV duties after all since the SpeedSeries season finale event nearly a year ago at this same track also for Stan & 9Gem before Seven regained the rights at season’s end. She wasn’t required to stay on alongside Matt White & Fabian Coulthard, having done some rallying/rallycross driving work since then.

It’s also nice to see her contribute to some pit reporting on the shared broadcast commentary feed at the Mountain alongside Greg Murphy, Mark Larkham, Chad Neylon and Riana Crehan.

Then there’s always versatile sports hosts in Mel McLaughlin & Emma Freedman once a year at our greatest race when Mark Beretta and Jack Perkins continues to steer the ship whenever Seven is allowed to air select Supercars events live every year with everything else being highlights (usually six out of 12/13).

Next Supercars TV rights deal from 2026-2030

Now even though we will see a three-race Finals series for the first time late next year – similar to NASCAR’s Playoffs albeit a much simpler & shorter version, the next TV rights contract from 2026 is still up for grabs that should take another few years to at least around the end of 2030 – coinciding with the arrival of Toyota as the 3rd Supercars manufacturer using Supras.

First of all, the paid TV package will always stay as Supercars’s primary financial source since Seven previously left following the 2014 season as an exclusive broadcaster before Seven came back to replace Network 10 a few years ago as the competition’s secondary TV partner to Fox Sports. There’s also the benefit of watching every event live and on-demand without ads during racing but when it comes to the free-to-air part, it still needs some work. Okay, there’s no way we will get to see all Supercars races live again like it once was a long time ago. It would be great though if they had at least all other Sunday afternoon Supercars-only races live on top of six full event major event races every year – similar to NRL and AFL every week with 3/4 weekly games on free-to-air while the rest being via Pay TV.

Whoever retains or takes over the rights remains to be seen, but hopefully Supercars can get a bit more free-to-air content that is well balanced likewise with the other major sporting codes while still maintaining Pay TV as the competition’s primary source – it should be a win/win for all motorsport people involved here at the end of the day.

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2024 Bathurst 1000: Brodie Kostecki adds another major trophy for the first time at Mount Panorama alongside Todd Hazlewood in the 1 Chevy Camaro for Erebus Motorsport

by Sports Benches

Great to hear from one-time NASCAR Cup Series driver Brodie Kostecki today with his Bathurst 1000 win for the first time alongside co-driver Todd Hazlewood at Mount Panorama. He first already won the Supercars Championship drivers’ title last year & now he gets to add another major honour in his trophy cabinet with the Bathurst win – all of which he’s achieved with Erebus Motorsport (Chevy team).

He didn’t look out of place at all from start to finish when he led the line from pole position with the team pit stops being absolutely flawless including the one late yellow before Kostecki was able to pull well clear of Triple 8/Red Bull Racing Australia’s Broc Feeney (No.88 Chevy with co-driver Jamie Whincup) during the final restart with 15 laps to go & there he goes safe and sound towards the finish line following a long 161 laps throughout today.

Congratulations to Brodie as sure he’s sticking around here for more with Supercars going into 2025 including a big switch to Ford power at Dick Johnson Racing. As far as his NASCAR ambitions is concerned, again, he could’ve done a few more starts at Cup level had Brodie not gone through a really tough off-season that saw him miss the first few races of 2024. 

It remains to be seen as to whether or not if he will be back racing in the US at least part-time again. However, it looks like Brodie won’t be leaving Supercars or Australia anytime soon unlike Shane Van Gisbergen, who is currently enjoying every minute of it at Kaulig Racing in the Xfinity Series level, with a full-time Cup ride coming his way next year at Trackhouse.

Not even former team-mate, current Triple 8 driver & also fellow NASCAR one-time racer Will Brown is willing to go full-time either when he’s also happy living here with family still around him. Also unsure about Cam Waters either at Tickford Racing’s Ford outfit when he competed two Truck races and one Cup road course race earlier this year & while he will definitely come back next season, it’s still too early to tell depending on Ford Performance wanting another SVG-like impact for Waters to begin with maybe at Ryan Sieg’s team or even AM Racing.

For now, there’s still better days ahead for Brodie Kostecki while there’s also always going to be another Supercars driver – preferably young/early-mid 20s – willing to follow SVG’s footsteps by racing NASCAR full-time in the US in the near future.

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